FOR IMMEDIATE USE

October 15, 2009

Cross Country Teams Head to Pre-National Invitational

Small contingent will run at the Mike Hodges Invitational in Clackamas.

          EUGENE, Ore. – Saturday will mark the Oregon men’s and women’s cross country teams return to the Pre-Nationals Invitational in Terre Haute, Ind., for the first time since 2005. Last November in the Ducks most recent visit to the LaVern Gibson Championship Course, individual national champ Galen Rupp led the men to their second straight NCAA title, while the women posted their second straight runner-up finish.

          Oregon will also send a small contingent of men and women to compete in the Mike Hodges Invitational on Friday in Clackamas, Ore.

MEET DETAILS

PRE-NATIONAL INVITATIONAL MEN’S BLUE RACE

Time: 8 a.m. PDT (11 a.m. EDT)

Length: 8,000 Meters

Results: www.gosycamores.com and www.directathletics.com.

Teams: The men will be competing against 34 other teams, including No. 2 Northern Arizona, No. 3 Alabama, No. 9 William & Mary, No. 14 Washington, No. 19 Butler, No. 21 North Carolina State, No. 27 Tulsa and No. 28 Cal Poly. Pac-10 foes Arizona, California and Washington State are also in the field, along with Air Force, Auburn, Brown, Charlotte, Florida, Georgia, Georgia Tech, Harvard, Illinois State, IUPUI, Indiana State, Iowa, Kansas, Loyola (Md.), Marquette, Miami (Ohio), Michigan State, Montana, Montana State, Texas-El Paso, Toledo, Utah State and Western Kentucky. Oregon has drawn starting box No. 5 for the Blue Race.

Oregon Entries:  The Duck men come into the competition ranked seventh nationally after their third-place showing at the Bill Dellinger Invitational on Oct. 2. The men have All-Americans Luke Puskedra, Matthew Centrowitz, Danny Mercado, Diego Mercado and A.J. Acosta among their entrants, as well as freshmen Bryce Burgess, Mac Fleet and Mitchell Hunt, junior Isaac Stoutenburgh and seniors Jordan McNamara and Jon Thomas.

At a Glance: Third-ranked Alabama won the 2009 Dellinger Invitational to jump start its season and No. 2 Northern Arizona will also be a contender in the Blue Race along with Oregon, William & Mary, Washington and regional favorite Butler. Oregon has some course familiarity on its side as Puskedra, Centrowitz, Danny Mercado, Diego Mercado, Acosta and Thomas have all run at LaVern Gibson previously. In fact, this will be the fourth LaVern Gibson appearance for Klotz, and the third for Diego Mercado.

Last Time at the Pre-National Invitational

Freshman Galen Rupp took 12th overall in the 8,000-meter race in 24:00.1 to lead Oregon to an 18th-place finish with 449 points at the 2005 Pre-National.

PRE-NATIONAL INVITATIONAL WOMEN’S BLUE RACE

Time: 9:20 a.m. PDT (12:20 p.m. EDT)

Length: 6,000 Meters

Results: www.gosycamores.com and www.directathletics.com.

Teams: The women’s team is the highest-ranked squad in the Blue Race and will be running against 36 other teams, including No. 6 Stanford, No. 7 Iowa State, No. 11 Florida State, No. 13 Georgetown, No. 19 Colorado, No. 24 Michigan State and No. 29 Iowa. Pac-10 foes Arizona and Oregon State are also in the Blue Race, as are Air Force, Auburn, Butler, UC Davis, Central Michigan, Dayton, Eastern Kentucky, Harvard, Iona, James Madison, Kansas State, Liberty, Louisville, Loyola (Ill.), Marquette, Miami (Ohio), Mississippi, Nebraska, North Carolina State, Ohio, Rice, Southern Utah, Texas-El Paso, Toledo, Tulsa, Vanderbilt and Western Kentucky. Oregon has drawn starting box 34 for the Blue Race.

Oregon Entries: The Oregon women are fourth nationally following their second-place run at the Dellinger meet. The Ducks’ entrants include All-Americans Nicole Blood, Alexandra Kosinski and Zoe Buckman, as well as heralded freshmen Jordan Hasay and Taylor Wallace. The Ducks also have entered sophomores Claire Michel and Bronwyn Crossman, junior Keara Sammons and seniors Bria Wetsch and Lauren Zaludek.

At a Glance: The women’s Blue Race appears to be top-heavy with No. 4 Oregon, No. 6 Stanford and No. 7 Iowa State accounting for three of the top five ranked teams in action in Terre Haute this weekend (No. 1 Washington and No. 5 Princeton are in the White Race). No. 11 Florida State, No. 13 Georgetown and No. 19 Colorado will also be in the mix. Like the men, the Duck women have a fair amount of experience with the LaVern Course. Blood, Kosinski, Buckman and Wetsch have each raced twice previously in Terre Haute.

MIKE HODGES INVITATIONAL

          Oregon will be sending a small contingent of men and women to compete in Friday’s Mike Hodges Invitational at Clackamas CC in Clackamas, Ore. The women will run a 5,000 meter race at 3:30 p.m. and the men will compete in a four-mile run at 4:15 p.m. Anne Kesselring, a freshman from Nürnberg, Germany, is slated to make her Oregon debut at the Mike Hodges, while juniors David Bondi, Kevin McNally and Ken Scoggin will have their season debuts for the men and senior Brooke Giuffre will do likewise for the women.

          Other schools sending men’s and women’s runners to the Mike Hodges include Washington, Xavier, Portland State, Seattle U. and Willamette, while Oregon State and Portland will field women’s teams.

PAC-10 DOMINANCE

In the last half century, no other conference can match the league’s combined 19 NCAA men’s and women’s team championships in cross country.

Combined NCAA Team Titles by Conference, 1958-present

19     Pacific-10 Conference

13     Southeastern Conference

12     Big East Conference

9       Conference USA

8       Big Ten

8       Big XII

LOOKING AHEAD

          Next on the fall schedule, the Ducks have the Beaver Classic on Oct. 24 in Corvallis, Ore., preceding the championships season.

          Oregon heads to Long Beach, Calif., for the Pac-10 Championships on Oct. 30. Then the Ducks will host the NCAA West Regional Nov. 14 at Springfield Country Club. The season commences in the NCAA Championships Nov. 23 at the LaVern Gibson course in Terre Haute, Ind.

A LOOK AT THE TWO-TIME NCAA CHAMPIONS, RUNNERS-UP

          For the first time since 2004, the Oregon cross country roster does not include Galen Rupp, the six-time NCAA Champion, 2008 Olympian and 14-time All-American. The men are also looking to absorb the losses of All-Americans Shadrack Kiptoo-Biwott and Scott Wall, and fellow NCAA veterans Chris Winter and Curtis Suver to graduation.

          The Ducks will rely on a core of veterans to fill that void, including sophomore Luke Puskedra, seniors Kenny Klotz and Diego Mercado and junior Danny Mercado, who have all won NCAA Cross Country All-America honors during their career. Other Duck veterans with NCAA Championships experience include juniors A.J. Acosta and Matthew Centrowitz, while senior Jon Thomas was victorious at the season-opening Pre’s Trail Pre-View.

          The women return their top two runners in NCAA All-Americans Nicole Blood and Alexandra Kosinski, who won the NCAA West Regional last season. The Ducks also return NCAA-experienced runners in junior Zoe Buckman and seniors Bria Wetsch and Brooke Giuffre, while senior Lauren Zaludek won the season-opening Pre’s Trail Pre-View. The women graduated All-American Mattie Bridgmon and NCAA scorer Zoe Nelson.

          Newcomers could see significant action for both squads.

          Jordan Hasay, the top running recruit in the nation, headlines the women’s newcomers, who also include Taylor Wallace (Klamath Falls, Ore.), Melanie Thompson (High Bridge, N.J.), Anne Kesselring (Nürnberg, Germany), Chloé Steinbeck (Beaverton, Ore.), Rebecca Friday (Bellingham, Wash.), Sarah Penney (Paradise Valley, Ariz.) and Alexandra Jones (Lake Oswego, Ore.).

          Newcomers for the men include Mac Fleet (San Diego, Calif.), Elliott Jantzer (Medford, Ore.), Elijah Greer (Lake Oswego, Ore.), Ben DeJarnette (Mechanicsville, Va.) and Mitchell Hunt (Fremont, Neb.).

- www.GoDucks.com -

Greg Walker

Associate Director, Media Relations

University of Oregon

Track & Field, Cross Country and Men's Golf Contact

541-346-2252 (o)

541-954-8775 (c)